Bill Text: NJ A1884 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires municipal court to hear certain violations of animal cruelty statutes within 14 days of the summons date.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-01-06 - Withdrawn from Consideration [A1884 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A1884-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires municipal court to hear certain violations of animal cruelty statutes within 14 days of the summons date.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning violations of the animal cruelty statutes and supplementing Title 4 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Notwithstanding any law, or rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, to the contrary, any person cited in violation of R.S.4:22-17 or subsections a., b. or c. of R.S.4:22-26 shall be issued a summons to appear in municipal court either (1) no later than 14 days after the date on which the summons is issued or (2) on the next scheduled municipal court date in the event the municipal court convenes less frequently than biweekly. The summons shall specify a court appearance date either (1) within 14 days of the date on which the summons is issued or (2) on the next scheduled municipal court date in the event the municipal court convenes less frequently than biweekly, shall be signed by the clerk of the municipal court, and the case shall be placed on the docket for the municipal court for that date.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that a person cited in violation of R.S.4:22-17 or subsections a., b. or c. of R.S.4:22-26 be issued a summons to appear in municipal court either (1) no later than 14 days after the date on which the summons is issued or (2) on the next scheduled municipal court date in the event the municipal court convenes less frequently than biweekly. The summons must specify an appearance date either (1) within the 14 days after the date on which the summons is issued or (2) on the next scheduled municipal court date in the event the municipal court convenes less frequently than biweekly, and be signed by the clerk of the court. The bill also requires that the case be placed on the docket for the municipal court for the appearance date listed on the summons.
R.S.4:22-17 and subsections a., b. and c. of R.S.4:22-26 are the State laws dealing with the criminal and civil penalties, respectively, for the overdriving, overloading, torturing and tormenting of animals, including the deprivation of necessary sustenance, unnecessarily or cruelly beating or otherwise abusing the animal, needlessly mutilating or killing the animal, and otherwise inflicting unnecessary cruelty upon the animal or unnecessarily failing to provide it with proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather.
The Department of Health and Senior Services defines proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather in regulations codified in Title 29 of the New Jersey Administrative Code.
